We were safe.
* * *
Rick was hauled away in handcuffs after a policeman pried Stanley’s jaws from him with a flashlight handle, passing me the raging beast before he could do the same to anyone else. Every man seemed to cringe as we walked by, no doubt hearing the particulars about Stanley and his testicular death grip.
I left him in the back of a police car for safekeeping while paramedics tended to my bloodied hands, surface cuts and a few splinters my only battle scars. As soon as I shut the door behind him, I swore I heard sighs of relief.
The first responders kept me distracted while they worked on my hands by detailing the damage I’d done to Rick, every new revelation coming as they pulled an embedded hunk of wood from my flesh. A broken hand. Torn tendons in his arm. A mangled knee.
But Stanley was the real MVP of the night, leaving his package a mutilated mess of puncture wounds. One of the paramedics thought he might have even ruptured a testicle, the ham on four legs delivering the worst bite he’d ever seen.
The distraction worked, and before I knew it, I was bandaged and escorted back to the police car to wait for my ride with Stanley. And when a black Tahoe appeared on the scene, I knew it had arrived.
Ethan sprang from the backseat, his black slacks and tee a rumpled mess as he rushed over, worried eyes searching the throngs of onlookers for me, two massive bodyguards flanking him.
I stepped out of the police car with my backpack over one shoulder and Stanley held close, not wanting a repeat of earlier. I couldn’t help but smile thinking of it. It figured Lil’s dog would be a literal ballbuster. I could practically hear her laughing.
I walked toward Ethan, but he didn’t see me, still combing faces. It wasn’t until I was a few feet away that he found me, relief flooding his taut features as he rushed over, crushing me to his chest, Stanley’s head poking free as he snarled.
“Fuck.” Ethan buried his face in my hair, hands running along my back, rediscovering every inch. “I thought I lost you.”
I pulled free, giving Stanley some wiggle room as I brushed a tear from Ethan’s cheek for a change. “I’m scrappier than you think.”
He laughed as he kissed me. “So I’ve heard. We listened to the reports roll in on the police scanner. Maybe I should start calling you Stabby?”
“Please don’t,” I giggled, my lips finding solace with his again. “Plum is fine.”
Ethan
We didn’t land in Boston until well after midnight, the helicopter ride back a blur of kisses and crying, both unraveling as emotion struck in waves.
I was eternally grateful to have her safe in my arms. I knew how much worse things could have gone, the information relayed to me on the helicopter ride down too horrifying to imagine.
Rick Gray had a hunting knife in his waistband along with a handwritten manifesto detailing his obsession with Ever, a play by play of our “relationship” and Kee’s alleged intrusion, years of detective work resulting in a deluded fantasy. He’d known who I was for years after following a paper trail through LLCs to piece together a puzzle that others couldn’t. He only exposed me when he saw Kee and I in photos, realizing she wasn’t a stand-in like others had been.
It was too terrifying to explain to Kee after what she’d gone through. I’d tell her once we were home, safely locked inside with six-hundred pounds of armed muscled outside the door.
She surrendered to exhaustion once we were in the car at Logan International, curling up in the passenger’s seat with Stanley on her chest as I drove home, a security detail following close behind. Her bandaged hands rested on her attack goblin’s back, the dynamic duo taking down a psychopath who was hell-bent on destroying them.
It was there in the quiet darkness of the Mercedes that I vowed she’d never be in harm’s way again. I’d dissolve the LLCs and come up with a new structure for Ever, all while burying Rick, his delusions painted in the headlines as just that - crazy talk. All that the world needed to know was that a sick man tried to do evil things to an innocent woman. Compared to the Ever story, it’d last a news cycle or two before we faded into obscurity again.
The sound of the private garage bay door woke my vigilante passengers almost a half hour later, Stanley barking while Kee let out a glamorous snort as she sat up straight.
“Home sweet home, sleepyheads.”
“Sorry I dozed off.” She rubbed at her eyes as I pulled into a spot, her ponytail flopping to the side.
“It’s okay. Shanking criminals is exhausting, I know.”
“So is swooping in with your own personal army,” she teased with a nudge of my shoulder. “Way to hire a team of mercenaries to fly us home in a friggin helicopter, dude.”
They weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. The cat was out of the bag. I had money. I might as well use it to keep us safe.
Two guards escorted us upstairs before taking their posts outside the door with hands clasped at the waist, both keeping a notable distance from Stanley and his ball-cutter jaws as Kee passed by.
With a click of the door behind me, the mood shifted, the heaviness of the day stripped away as soon as we crossed the threshold to our safe haven in the sky.
Kee set Stanley down, his nails clicking on the marble as he headed to his bed. The little shit didn’t know it, but I was buying him a wagyu steak as a reward.
“Next up: Stanley gets a girlfriend?” I asked, turning to Kee who was kicking out of her flats.
“I don’t know. He’s ornery enough on his own. I might look into
