“Are you okay?” she rasped out. Her heart was stuck in her throat.
“I’m fine. Are you hit?” He ran his hands down her legs now.
Blinking, she pushed up from the concrete floor and looked around in a daze, her heart a wild thump in her chest. “Was that a drive-by shooting? And are you sure you’re okay?” She knew she’d already asked, but she swept her gaze over him, looking for any signs of injury. She couldn’t believe what had just happened, was trying to wrap her mind around it even as she tried to steady her erratic breathing.
He nodded as he pulled her to her feet. “Come on,” he ordered, guiding her inside his house, already pulling his phone out—to call the police, she assumed.
What the hell had just happened?
* * *
Grace felt as if she was on autopilot as Logan gently helped her stand from the metal-backed chair in the detective’s office. She didn’t actually need the help but right about now she wasn’t afraid to admit that the drive-by shooting had shifted her whole world. Even hours later she felt as if her insides were still trembling.
She hadn’t seen anything, hadn’t seen the shooter, hadn’t even seen the vehicle. Nothing. But she’d heard the gunfire and had run like hell. Now the sound of the shooting was embedded in her brain and was all she could focus on. As bullets slammed into her car—which had been towed to an auto shop by now.
“Thank you for making your statement,” said Detective Hurley, a tall man with wide shoulders. His dark hair was cropped short and his equally dark eyes were kind, making her feel more at ease. He stood from across his desk and met them on the other side.
She simply nodded because of course they’d made a statement. They’d had no choice. Someone had tried to kill them. Logan had actually gotten a make and model of the vehicle which surprised the heck out of her because everything was a fuzzy memory of noise and fear.
The gunshots. Running. Being tackled to the ground.
It had all sort of happened in a tunnel, as if it had happened to someone else and not her. And it had been so fast. That was the thing that blew her mind. How quickly the violence had come, then gone, as if it had never been there at all. One of Logan’s neighbors had gotten a partial of the license plate because he’d been outside with his dog, which felt like a miracle to her.
“You’ve got my number if you remember anything more,” the man said to Logan, who just nodded and murmured his thanks again.
“I feel like there’s more we should do,” Grace said as they stepped out into the hall. She knew there was realistically nothing they could actually do at this point, but whoever had shot at them was still out there. And that scared her. Especially since they had no idea if it was personal against one of them or random violence.
Logan wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she instinctively leaned into him. “There’s nothing we can do. We’re just going to let the police do their job.” He said the words, but for some reason she didn’t quite believe that he was going to do nothing about this. He worked in private security for a very wealthy man. A man with a sort of ruthless reputation. “I’m going with you to your place,” Logan added in a tone that indicated he thought she might argue.
“Okay.” Grace did not want to be alone right now. She didn’t even have a car, would have to call her insurance company and figure things out later.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said quietly.
She leaned into him for a moment as they reached the end of the hallway and stepped into a crowded, slightly loud open area with a lot of desks and uniformed officers. “I know. Or I hope so. You’re handling all of this very well.” He seemed so okay with everything and she felt as if she might split apart at the seams.
“It’s not the first time I’ve been shot at.” His tone was neutral. “And I’m not handling the fact that you were there very well at all.” Now his jaw tightened and she saw the first spark of raw anger in his eyes since they’d gotten here.
“Well I’m pretty pissed that you were shot at too. I know what you told the detective, but do you think this has anything to do with your job?”
He shrugged as they made their way through the cluster of desks. “It’s too hard to know. I work security for a wealthy man, so he’s the one who’s usually the target, not me. But yeah, I could have made an enemy. Only one name pops to mind though, and like I told Detective Hurley, that man is currently sporting an ankle monitor and is under supervision.”
She nodded because she’d heard everything Logan had told the detective. Some guy from one of Logan’s last jobs had been beating his wife and had been arrested after Logan’s interruption. He’d only been let out on bail because he was rich, and they’d put an ankle monitor on him to make sure he didn’t leave the state and go after his wife. Grace knew enough about domestic cases that the fact they’d actually put an ankle monitor on him surprised her, so she wondered if someone had pulled some strings to make that happen. Or maybe the judge had used common sense and realized that a man with that much wealth would be a risk to go after his wife and finish the job. And of course the Las Vegas PD would be checking to make sure the guy was still where he was supposed to be.
In a way it made her feel worse, because if their attacker wasn’t that guy Brister, then Logan had no other suspects. Which meant some random person had just taken shots at them.
As they stepped outside, she jerked in surprise to find Logan’s parents, and Roman and Taylor all waiting on the sidewalk. She hadn’t realized Logan had even called them.
Before she could move, Taylor pulled her into a tight hug immediately. Feeling her best friend’s arms around her soothed some of her frayed edges.
“How are you holding up?” Taylor asked as she stepped back, her bright blue eyes filled with worry.
“I’m okay. We’re okay.” Maybe if she said it enough, she would start to feel it more. She just wanted to go home and curl up in front of the fire and block out the rest of the world. And she was really glad that Logan was coming with her. She definitely didn’t want to be alone right now and he was such a strong presence. Even with her own inner turmoil, she felt safe around him. Always had.
To her surprise Roman pulled her into a big hug too, lifting her off the ground. Then he moved on to Logan, hugging his twin tight. “I packed a bag for you,” Roman said. “Already put it in your truck. And Mom and Dad are staying with me so you don’t need to worry about anything else.”
“Thank you,” Logan said quietly to his brother before looking at Grace, his expression neutral.
She wished she knew what he was thinking, but ever since the shooting it was like he’d gone into a sort of lockdown mode. She’d never seen him like this and it was throwing her off-kilter even more. It wasn’t like she expected him to be his fun, joking self, but he was in what she assumed must be his operator mode for jobs. It was a different side to him and she was grateful to have him with her.
After getting hugs from his parents and saying a quick goodbye, they were on their way in his truck, which hadn’t sustained any real damage thankfully. She felt bad that he was leaving his parents right now around the holidays when they were in town specifically to see him and his brother, but she couldn’t dredge up too much guilt. Being shot at was a damn good reason to go home and hide out for the night as she tried to reset her brain.