I chuckled. “I’m not getting a cat.”
“If she’s so permanent, why didn’t you say that at the interview with the magazine?”
They’d mentioned Savvy because of the pictures of us floating around, but nothing much had surfaced yet, and I wanted to keep it that way. At least until this shit with my father was over, and I planned on ending it sooner than I’d thought.
I’d decided to sell my half of Compass to Brett. If my father’s nightclubs went under, then I didn’t want to be part of it. I didn’t give a shit anymore. He wasn’t important and I was making him important.
Savvy was important.
Emily and the SPCA were dealing with the horses. Even if I was walking away from this, his continued abuse of horses had to stop.
Crisis pulled up in front of Savvy’s building, and I unclicked my seatbelt. “Waited a fuck of a long time for Savvy. Only girl my cock has ever been inside and she will be the last. Clear enough for you.”
I opened the door and got out.
“What the fuck?” Crisis shouted leaning over the seat. “Kite? What the fuck do you mean? Jesus, man. Are you serious? Christ….” I shut the door.
“You owe me a phone call tomorrow.” I heard him curse as he drove off.
Luke walked up, and I shook his hand. “All good?”
“She’s been home half an hour.”
“And already asleep because she’s not answering her phone,” I said. “She has to buzz me in.” She was giving me a key to her place tomorrow. Non-fuckin’-negotiable.
Luke frowned. “You called her?”
“Yeah. Why?” I took out my phone to see if she’d texted me back. She hadn’t.
Luke looked up in the direction of Savvy’s third-floor apartment.
My back stiffened. “Luke?”
“Her kitchen light is still on.”
“And?”
“Been watching her a long time. She never leaves lights on when she goes to bed. And you said she knew you were coming?”
Because Savvy was concerned about the hydro bill, and yeah, she knew I was coming. My heart pounded and stomach coiled as I pressed her number again and listened to it ring as we jogged up to the front door.
Luke pressed her buzzer. No answer.
“Jesus.” Everything inside revolted as a million thoughts plowed through me. Nothing could happen to her. She had to be okay. I couldn’t lose her, not Savvy too.
I yanked on the doors, but the one good thing about this place was the front door locked. I banged my fist into the glass. “Damn it.” I looked at Luke. “Her neighbor Trevor. Buzz him.”
Luke scrolled through the names while I paced back and forth.
Trevor answered. “What the fuck? Do you not know my fuckin’ rules. No one buzzes me after midnight.” The air went silent.
“Fuck.” I buzzed this time and as soon as it clicked when he picked up, I spoke. “It’s Kite. Buzz me in.”
“Why didn’t you say that the first time?” Trevor replied.
The buzzer sounded, and Luke threw open the door and we ran inside. My heart was in my fuckin’ throat as we raced up the three flights of stairs.
I didn’t bother knocking on Savvy’s door or asking Trevor for a key. I slammed my shoulder into it, splintering the wooden frame, and the door burst open.
“What the hell is going on?” I heard Trevor shout from across the hall. Luke grabbed my arm to haul me back, and I glanced at the gun in his hand.
“Kite. Let me check it out first,” Luke said.
“I can’t.” I jerked my arm free and moved through her apartment, eyes scanning the couch first, praying that maybe she’d just fallen asleep. But the truth was, I already knew. I felt it.
“Savvy?” I yelled, running for the bedroom, Luke beside me.
The second I stepped into the room and saw her it was like being slammed in the gut with a wrecking ball, then a chainsaw ripping open my chest.
“Noooo!” I shouted, tumbling to my knees beside her, my hands running the length of her body as I tried to see where she was hurt.
She lay on her stomach, her head to the side, hair covering her face, and blood splattered across the floor.
“Don’t move her,” Luke ordered as he held his phone to his ear. He was talking to someone, but his words were muffled as my mind gyrated with fear.
“Fuck. Savvy. Baby.” I brushed her hair away from her face and neck and felt for a pulse.
I closed my eyes as a wave of relief poured over me when I felt the thump beneath the pads of my fingers. “She’s alive.”
A shadow cast over me, but I didn’t look to see who it was, all I saw was Savvy and… fuck, Emmitt. Facedown in the water, blood splattered on the rock where he’d hit his head.
But there’d been no pulse.
Savvy was breathing. She was fuckin’ breathing. “Where the fuck are the paramedics,” I shouted.