Page 90 of Security and Submission
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
She couldn’t even do fuck buddies correctly, it seemed.
Sometimes, it felt as if the curse was going to blow up every good thing that ever happened to her. Maybe it wasn’t just her chance at marriage and kids; maybe every kind of romantic relationship she tried to have was cursed.
“Miss Jafari, can you come here, please?” Officer Zucker’s tone was a lot more polite and a lot more concerned now, which Yasmine did not take as a good sign. Her heart felt as if it was climbing up her chest into her throat as she started walking toward him.
Yes, it was postponing having to face Zeus and telling him the full truth, after which he would probably dump her ass—deservedly so—which made her want to cry a lot more than losing a fuck buddy should, but she was also now terrified of what was inside her house.
She could hear Zeus and Claudia coming behind her and wished he would put his hand on the small of her back as he so often did. Reassure her that everything was okay. But it wasn’t okay, and that was her fault. She’d fucked it all up.
All of that went flying out of her head when she reached the two police officers. Officer Zucker pushed her front door fully open and stepped back so she could see into the house.
Letting out a little cry, her hands flew up to cover her mouth as tears immediately filled her eyes.
The inside of her house had been trashed. From the doorway, she could see her belongings scattered across the floor. Her brain froze, glitched.
“I assume you didn’t leave your house in this condition?” Officer Zucker asked gently. Yasmine shook her head, her hands still over her mouth. “Okay, stay here. We’re going to search the house and make sure whoever did this is gone. If you could step back a little?”
Yasmine stepped back, nearly stepping right off her stoop, and both Zeus’ and Claudia’s hands caught her. A sob caught in her throat as the police went through the front door, and the reality of what she’d just seen hit home.
Someone had broken into her house and thrown her things around.
“Oh God…” She turned, seeking comfort, and found herself wrapped up in Zeus’ arms.
Which was when she realized she’d turned towards him and not Claudia.
But he wasn’t shoving her away.
Pity would do that.
But she’d take pity-comfort right now.
Claudia’s hand rubbed her back soothingly while Zeus held her, and Yasmine cried into his shoulder. She could hear the distant sound of the officers talking to each other from inside her house, shouting the word “clear” multiple times. Which was both reassuring and frustrating.
She didn’t know if she should be glad the person wasn’t there anymore.
On one hand, that could be so dangerous, especially if they were violent. On the other hand, she really wanted them caught. Especially if it was Pete James. Not that she could think of anyone else it could be. Unless another abusive husband of one of Naomi’s clients had found her. But what were the odds of that?
In Zeus’ arms, fear was starting to fade, and anger was starting to rise.
“Don’t worry, sweetie,” Claudia murmured. “We’ll find whoever did this, and then I’ll cut his balls off.”
Yasmine choked on a watery laugh, although she wasn’t entirely sure Claudia was joking.
“And here I thought we were never going to get our bonding time,” Zeus said dryly. Which made absolutely no sense to Yasmine, but it must have to Claudia because she burst out laughing.
“You’re all right, Basil.”
“Mmm.” Zeus’ response seemed noncommittal, but he didn’t let go of Yasmine, either.
Not then. Not when the officers came back out to tell her that she could come inside and see the damage. He kept one arm wrapped around her while Claudia held her free hand, both of them supporting her through the walkthrough.
Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Officer Zucker theorized that the perpetrator had broken in, realized the alarm was going off and that they couldn’t turn it off, and had opted to do the most damage possible in the shortest amount of time.
Which meant the front room was a wreck, but the guest room was untouched. Her bedroom wasn’t wrecked, but he had peed on her bed and swept everything on her dresser onto the floor. Yasmine gagged.
There was no way she was going to be able to sleep on that bed tonight.
