Independent Braylee Mitchells faces the prospect of falling in love with her new roomie: self-proclaimed player and long-time friend, Dominick Mulder, when a damaged apartment and old vows force them together... and make them possibly confront and d...
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Chapter 11
DOM
When I arrived, the relief I felt when I saw a patrol car parked at the front gate...
I almost buckled to my knees on the driveway and wept my thanks to whatever God was watching out for Bray.
I'm not sure if they responded to my call that I placed while I was driving, or whether Bray had called after she'd hung up on me. Either way, I was beyond grateful for their presence when I pulled into the gate.
Two officers were inside the house, occupying the lounge where Bray stood, hugging her waist and looking shaken, pale and more vulnerable than I'd ever seen her.
"Braylee!"
At the sound of my voice, the two men in SAPS uniforms turned to me, but it was Bray who I watched, who I anticipated moving towards me, who I witnessed the relief pass over her distraught features when she caught sight of me.
I didn't wait for her to give me permission or a hint that she needed me to; I slipped my arms around her body and drew her against mine. I didn't think I could let her go and I didn't intend to. The thoughts that had circulated around my mind on the endless drive over had been dark and grim and terrifying.
A reality I never wanted to face.
She buried her face against my chest and I stroked her back, her shoulders, pulling whatever unease I could from her in any way I knew how- although right then I felt pretty useless.
I should have been here.
"Are you alright? Hurt?" I asked, terrified to learn that something had happened to her after all.
She shook her head, which made me relax just a little bit, and then I considered the officers monitoring the scene with neutral expressions on their faces. "What happened?"
One of the men idly thumbed the gun holstered at his hip. "Seems like an intruder taking a chance," the man shrugged. "Probably didn't think anyone was home- ran when he realised somebody was."
"Happens a lot," the other man agreed.
"Unless maybe he wanted to scare someone inside," the one thumbing his gun continued. "Because there was no movement to enter the premises after the window had been broken."
That made me scowl at them. "Why would someone want to scare her?" I demanded.
"If she has a past with someone... sometimes domestic cases arise like this." He studied Braylee for a moment. "Miss Mitchells has not specified whether she knows someone who may have a cause to do something like that. If she has, she needs to let us know if she suspects someone of entering the property without permission."
"I don't think-"
Bray lifted her head from my chest, looked up at me with huge, luminous light brown eyes that were brimming with so many emotions I couldn't begin to identify one, and then turned to the officer who had spoken. "I do, but I have a protective order registered with the local magistrate against him. He wouldn't know I've moved out here either, so I can't be sure that it's him since I didn't see anyone outside when the light turned on."
