The Twin Moon (The Moon Series) (10 page)

“Did I stutter?
You heard me.”
Rosie’s tone scalded his ears on the other end of the phone.

Ian hesitated, his heart a lump in his throat.
What if she hung up on him?
He swallowed hard and decided truth was better than a lie.

“I’ve never had a long term relationship.”
Ian waited for her response.

“Um huh.
When was the last time you had sex?”

Ian couldn’t believe
she had just asked him that
.

“Last week.”
God,
was
he really answering all these crazy questions
?

“Do you practice safe sex?”
Rosie was very serious and Ian could tell this answer would make or break him in her book.

He had actually always practiced safe sex even though he couldn’t get anyone pregnant and wasn’t susceptible to most diseases.
The big one, HIV, could still catch him up and he wasn’t about to risk getting that.

“Yes, always.”
What did she think of him?

“Well, at least you
’
r
e
honest.”
Rosie laughed a little.

“How do you know I’m telling you the truth?”
Ian couldn’t help but
prod her
even as a small part of his brain screamed at him to be quiet.

“I would know if you’re lying.
It’s something I was born with.
So I’m not giving you her number.
You give me yours and I’ll give it to her.”

“How do I know you’ll give it to her?”
Ian ground his teeth, all this jumping through hoops was about to make him cranky and the pain wasn’t helping put him in a better mood.

“I’m not a liar either.
Give me the number.
I’ll make sure she calls you.”

Ian recited his number and struggled to put the phone back on the receiver.
Then he lay
back on the pillows and closed his eyes.
What an exhausting phone call.

***

Andy pulled off her heels a
nd
stared at the run in her nylon.
Anoth
er pair of her good hose ruined.
It aggravated her to no end.
She locked her front door and dropped her purse on the couch as she pulled her dress over her head.
She tossed it into the hamper bedside the door in the bedroom as she entered.
Andy flipped on her light switch and as the room flooded with light st
ared in horror at her bedroom.
Her bedroom window had been pulled out of
f
the
track,
completely gone.
The small hole gaped like an open mouth into the night.
Her pillows had been slashed and stuffing was everywhere.
The comfor
ter was shredded into ribbons. A
ll her clothes from her closet w
ere on her floor also in shreds, h
er
garters, nylons, clothes.
God, everything
’s
ruined
.
A sob escaped as a tear ran down her check.

“Rich!
You bastard!”
Andy grabbed her dress out of the hamper and threw it back on over bra, panties, garters and ho
se as anger burned her chest.
She tried to suck in a breath through her sobs
,
but she only succeeded in a hiccup.
Andy headed to her cordless phone
and swiped it off the counter
then dialed
911.

“911
.
What is you
r
emergency?”
The voice on the other end was rough and masculine.

“Yes, my house has been broken into and they trashed my bedroom.”
Andy recited her information for the person on the other end of the phone.
Then
she
waited patiently for the officers to arrive.

The knock on the door brought her he
ad around and
time had passed by in a warp as she had stared at her bedroom
,
thoughts of tearing Rich apart racing through her head.

She opened the front door and a uniformed officer stood on the other side his partner beside him.
He was tall and thin while his partner was short and a little rounder.

“Evening M
a
’am
.
I’m Office Ochoa this is my partner Officer Whitt
i
er.
We received a call about a break in.”

“Yes, Officer.
Please come in.”
Andy unlocked the security gate and let the officers in.
“This way.”
She led them to the bedroom.

The officers appraised the situation and asked to look around out back.

Andy’s body shook as she surveyed the damage again.
The whole room seemed suddenly c
older than before.
S
he really wasn’t safe here. Shaking Andy brought her hand to her mouth and bit back the urge to scream
.
She needed an alarm
system and more bars on all the windows.
Like now. She couldn’t live life like this in fear, in the horror that Rich had weaved around her like a spider’s web. Tears burned her eyes and one streaked quickly down her face.  Her whole life was slowly falling apart in front of her eyes. Trembling she brushed the tears away with the back of her hand.

“M
a
’am?
Are you all right?
You’re shaking.”
The shorter officer stared at her as her whole body trembled.

“I just need to sit down.
This is all too much.”
Andy
’s
arms circled her body, trying to preserve some of her warmth as the officer walk
ed
away from her.
Damn Rich for tearing up her life again.
Andy sat down at the kitchen table as the phone rang.

“Hello?”
Andy hoped her voice didn’t shake with the
sadness
that spilled in
side her stomach like acid.

“Andy?
It’s Rosie.”
The voice of her childhood friend was a soothing balm on her soul and she sighed in relief.

“I need your brothers in a little bit.
Rich broke in and smashed up my bedroom.
My window’s on the ground.”
Andy leaned against the table and dropped her head into her hand.

“What you need is a big ass dog that will bite his balls off if he gets in the back yard again.
I’m bringing Dallas over
this time and you can’t talk me out of it any more. I know he’s my baby but you need him more than I do right now
.
Call me when the cops leave.”
Rosie hung up and Andy tried not to sh
iver.
Dallas was Rosie’s Pitt B
ull that her brothers had bought to protect her.
He had a bad temper and hated most everybody.
He was perfect.

The Officers took awhile.
As they finished they came back to the kitchen.

“We fingerprinted your window, b
ut unfortunately there were no prints.
Do you have any idea who might have done this?”
Officer Ochoa had a notepad in his hand.

“Yes, I have a restraining order against my ex-boyfriend, Richard Albright.
He’s been harassing me and I wouldn’t be surprised if he had done this.
I think he stole my shot
gun.
”
Andy gave the Officer his last known address.
She prayed that they could somehow link him to this and get him away from her for a while.
She could use the peace of mind
that
Rich being locked up wo
uld bring.
Thinking
about him having her shotgun
made her stomach churn
.

“You shouldn’t stay here alone tonight.
Do you have some family you can call?”
Officer Ochoa closed his notebook and put it in his pocket.

“My best friend is coming over and she’s bringing her brother.
He’s a contractor.
He’ll help fix the window for tonight.”
Andy ran her finger
s
through her hair.

“Alright then we’re going to leave.”

“Thank you
,
Officer Ochoa.”
Andy walked the o
fficers to the door then locked
the doors
tight.
She called Rosie as she walked back into her bedroom.
Now in addition to the shredded clothes there was black fingerprint dust on everything.
After Andy was sure Rosie was on the way she sat on the end of th
e bed and stared at the mess.
Anger surged through her veins hot and molten.
How dare he ruin
my stuff
.
She had worked hard for her things and he had come in and tore them up like so much trash.

Andy stood up and picked up the shredded clothing from the floor piece by mutilated piece.
Her favorite skirt
…
ruined. H
er favorite dress
…
destroyed.
The increasing violence in Rich scared her.
The signs of his abuse were obvious and they would escalate if the pattern was right.
He had lulled after he had broken her arm and
begged forgiveness, now he climbed
again.
Soon he would crest and she feared he w
ould try to kill her this time.
Andy piled the clothes in the center of the room
and
all her underwear were missing.
She
went to the kitchen for a large trash bag when a knock sounded on the door.
Panic twisted around her chest in a tight hold.

“Who is it?”
Andy’s heart beat hard
as she waited to see who was on the other side.

“It’s Rosie.”
Rosie’s voice was a welcome sound.

Andy opened the door to find Rosie holding Dallas by the leash and her oldest brother
Manuel
behind the security gate.

“Come in.”
Andy stepped back to let them in.

“I’ll just put Dallas out back.”
Rosie walked the dog through the house.

“Rosie said you needed some help with the windows.”
Manuel
was almost six foot tall with dark hair and caramel skin.
Truth be told Andy had a crush on him growing up.
His chocolate brown eyes had always been so gorgeous she always wanted to stare deep into them, but he was married.

“Yeah, Rich knocked out my bedroom window.
He keeps
smashing
windows and breaking in.
Can you put bars on the windows in the back and maybe a security
gate
on the back door?
Do you know anyone that does security systems?”
The question
s
just rolled out of Andy’s mouth.
Maybe if she had those things her home would be safer.

“Sure, I can hook you up.
Are you going to be home tomorrow?
We can get it done first thing.”
Manuel
stared past Andy at the bedroom and seemed to survey the mess.

“Yeah.
I’m going to have to get new clothes and fix up my bedroom.”
Andy went to the kitchen to get the trash bags as Rosie came back from the back yard.

“I’ll just go put the window back in then.”
Manuel
left the room.

“Okay, so let’s clean
up your bedroom.”
Rosie had on
shorts and a t-shirt and she took the bags from Andy.

Andy and Rosie got to work sorting through the clothes trying to see if anything could be salvaged at all.
Surprisingly some of her clothes had made it through the rampage okay and those she tossed on the bed.
The trashed ones went in the garbage bags.
Slowly the room came together and Andy’s anger simmered as
t
he disaster cleared.

“He shredded everything.
Every good outfit I had.
That bastard.”
Andy grabbed up another top and stuffed it into the already full garbage bag as a tear ran down her cheek.

“It’
s just clothes,
amiga
.
You can replace them.”
Rosie patted her on the arm before she stood up and hauled the garbage bag out into the living room.