Bound to Her - Deborah Pin (books for 9th graders .TXT) 📗

to hold hers.

His brow furrowed as he studied her and she swallowed over a lump

in her throat. “Yeah yeah yeah. Have them dust the door and get the extra officers out of here. The scene’s secure so I don’t need the extra bodies trampling around.” He dismissed the officer and the officer

ducked out the door, leaving them alone—still staring at each other.

“Seth’s teacher.” He offered her a weak if not shocked smile.

“Seth’s father.” She pursed her lips as he walked toward her. “I’m Katrina by the way.”

“May I sit?” She nodded. “And it’s Dillon.”

“Or…Detective, apparently. I didn’t know.” She laughed nervously as

he watched her calmly. She was not calm. She was freaking the f-bomb

out and now the handsome man she didn’t like had his handsome ass sitting next to her on her couch.

When his fingers brushed her long floppy bangs away from the side

of her face, she flinched and her eyes darted to him. “How did this happen?” His voice was exceptionally soothing as he spoke to her and she forgot for half a second that she didn’t actually like him.

“Forehead, fireplace.” His brow flinched again as he continued to

hold her hair back from her face. When his thumb brushed lightly down

her temple, she moaned quietly at the tender touch before she could stop

herself. He pulled back quickly as her hair fell back in place, tickling her skin as it moved. His hand moved to her chin, tipping it up as his eyes

took in her throat. He pulled her chin back down and studied her eyes again.

“Your throat looks like it’s going to bruise and your eye looks swollen

too.”

“He was choking me and he punched me.”

“I think you should go to the hospital and have it checked out.” She

shook her head. “You could have a concussion.”

“No.” Her gaze flashed to his quickly. “I’m fine.”

His lips pursed for half a second as he exhaled a deep breath. “I’m going to have to ask you some questions. Are you ready to talk about it?”

She shrugged and at just that moment, Imogen burst through the side door with an officer trailing behind her, annoyed at her flurry of panic.

“You can’t be in here! And don’t touch that door!”

“Trink!” She practically shrieked and Katrina stood walking toward

her. Imogen had tears streaming down her face. Katrina wasn’t even so

upset—until Imogen pulled her into a fierce bear hug. Then Katrina fell

apart too. Imogen was tall, nearly five feet ten inches to Katrina’s five feet four inches and Imogen practically had her off her feet, smothering her in

her long blonde hair. She was stunning but just as quirky as Katrina and

they were both showing their weirdness at the moment. “I thought you

were going to die! What the fuck!”

“Imogen, I’m fine. But I have to answer some questions for the

detective.” Katrina couldn’t believe she was being the calm one but eventually Imogen released her death grip on Katrina, setting her back

down on her feet. When Katrina turned back to Detective Adler, she caught a small smile on his lips before his face returned to his somber serious expression.

“Trink is your nickname?” He spoke quietly to her as she sank down

beside him and Imogen took the armchair sitting off to the side of the living room.

“No…not Trink. I would have to actually be okay with someone

calling me Trink in order for it to be a nickname.”

“Trink, you’re sure you’re okay?” She glared at Imogen but caught

the subtle smirk on Detective Adler’s face out of her periphery.

“Imogen, this is Detective Adler. He’s actually Seth Adler’s father.”

“Oh!” Oh holy fuck. “He’s the one with the nice ass who pissed you off the other night, isn’t he?” She was speaking quietly as though they were

sharing a secret of some sort. The problem was Imogen was talking right

in front of him as his eyes moved between them.

It was entirely intentional and Katrina should have seen that coming.

Imogen was the consummate matchmaker, even if her means were a bit

unconventional, poorly timed and completely crude. Apparently

Katrina’s near-death encounter wasn’t enough to stop Imogen.

“No.” Her eyes flashed to Detective Adler’s.

“No?” He held her eyes calmly as her throat started constricting. Shit

shit shit!

“Another parent who…” Her voice trailed off as she realized just how

stupid she sounded and how futile her attempt to throw him off was.

His lip pulled up in a slight smirk before he turned to Imogen. “I need

to get a statement from Ms. Page. Would you mind waiting in the other

room?”

“What room?” She snorted. “Have you seen how small her house is?

Sorry and of course. Trink, will you stay with me tonight?” Relief washed over Katrina at Imogen’s invitation and she nodded instantly.

“Awesome possum. I’ll go pack you a bag and then I’ll wait in the car.

Am I cool to touch stuff without Officer Meany having a cow?”

“Yes. They’ll dust the side door for prints so as long as you leave out

the front you’ll be fine. My partner’s going door-to-door right now, so if

he sees you sitting in your car he may stop and talk to you. Just don’t

compliment his ass and you’ll be fine.”

Imogen’s mouth pulled up in a big grin and for half a second Katrina

was hit with a wave of jealousy. They liked each other. Not liked liked each other. Imogen would never be interested in a man she thought might interest Katrina, but they got on well. Far better than Katrina’s own experience with the man. But when she looked up to him, his eyes

were back on Katrina and he licked his lips as he watched her. It wasn’t

intentionally seductive. In fact, it appeared completely subconscious but

it felt seductive and she melted for a moment as she bit down on her lip.

She might just have a crush on Detective Handsome Ass. Fuck.

 

“What’s wrong with your cat?” He watched the strange-looking

creature wind its way around her leg, tottering over like a drunk old man. Its eyes were a bit milky and as she reached down to scratch the top

of its head and it arched up to meet her hand, it lost its balance again and fell over.

“She’s twenty-one.”

“And that’s a medical condition?”

“It is to a cat.” Her eyes were distant but she met his with a small smile. She was still trembling. She’d given him the details of the attack and he was already not thrilled with just how little he had to go on. It wasn’t helping that the tech dusting the door had that exasperated look

on her face that said she wasn’t finding much to go on either. Frankly, he

wasn’t expecting much. Her statement suggested the perp likely never touched a solid surface in her home.

“Any recent altercations, arguments, angry ex-boyfriends I need to

know about?”

“Just a disgruntled parent who showed up to parent-teacher

conferences late.” She smirked at him and he couldn’t help but smile. He

liked her sense of humor. He liked her friend’s as well. He especially liked how loose her friend’s lips were when it came to the good teacher.

Katrina. Too fucking bad she was his witness. That made her quite hands off and yet he couldn’t seem to stop touching her.

Every time he caught sight of the abrasion peeking out from under her long bangs or the quickly reddening throat, which left little question

where the man’s hand had gripped her, his hand just instantly moved to

brush the hair back and study the spot or tip her chin to see her throat.

“Please go to the hospital.” His voice was quiet. “I know you’re not likely

seriously injured but I want a medical report on the injuries and photographs. I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.”

She must be in pain. The abrasion was an angry red patch of missing skin above her eye and the skin surrounding her eye was darkening with

a bruise with every passing minute. She’d already divulged she had a large abrasion across her stomach as well from her fall over the edge of

the fireplace mantel. He was a detective short on clues and the only ones

he had were on her body at the moment.

“Fine.” Her voice was quiet and she leaned down to scratch the cat, if

it could be called that, one last time before they stood together. He walked with her from the house and he stood back watching as she spoke with her friend.

Her friend nodded in agreement to something before backing from

the driveway in an exceptionally expensive sports car. He spoke briefly

to the officer and the crime-scene tech before he opened his passenger door for her and rounded the car.

“I thought you said your partner was here?” She met his eyes as he sank into the seat beside her.

“He is. We drove separately. Is your friend going to meet you at the

hospital?”

“No. I told her I’d call when I was finished. I won’t of course. I’ll take

a cab. It’s late and we both have to work tomorrow. Will they lock up when they’re finished?”

“Yes. The scene tech is nearly finished photographing and the officer

will lock up when they leave. We’ll keep a patrol unit in the

neighborhood and check on the house periodically to make sure no one

comes back.”

“Do you think he just wanted to rob me?” Her voice was far too quiet

as she spoke and he didn’t like the fear he heard in the slight tremble.

“I can’t say that for certain.” He was giving her the noncommittal response because he didn’t want to answer that question truthfully.

He didn’t think the man wanted to rob her at all. He’d said nothing to

her—he’d demanded nothing from her. He was there for a purpose and

Dillon didn’t think it was random happenstance that he caught her just as she was conveniently entering her side door. Her house was set off the

street too far for it to be some random asshole out walking around who

just happened upon her getting out of her car.

Nothing about the way it played out left him thinking robbery was the motive. The man wanted to hurt her, plain and simple, and he’d been

waiting for her. Both left a chill running through his body. The rude quirky teacher, whom he’d not been able to stop thinking about all weekend, was a very vulnerable young woman at the moment.

Chapter Four

 

The hospital was buzzing with people who needed far more care than

she did, but with a detective at her side it didn’t take them long to get her into a semiprivate, albeit ridiculously small, room. The doctor swooped

in, barely looking at her before he poked and prodded at her head, made

her do eyeball aerobics as he shined a light in her face, looked at her throat and then her stomach and finally met her eyes for the first time without trying to blind her.

“Lucky girl. You’re fine. Your head’s likely going to ache a bit for a while but you’ll heal. Now stay here. They need pictures and then you can go.” The man was then gone and she was alone. But not for long.

Detective Adler walked in with the same scene tech who had been at

her house. The woman was young and pretty, even with a dark-navy

uniform on and her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Her camera was

slung around her neck and as she walked in beside Detective Adler, Katrina was hit with that nasty juvenile feeling of insecurity and jealousy

again. Katrina looked like hammered shit and she fucking well knew it. It

wasn’t helping matters that an incredibly good-looking man was walking

toward her with a cute blonde at his side.

“Pull your hair back from your face, please.” The scene tech spoke without actually looking up at her. No one seemed interested in looking

at her in this place. But as they approached her, she looked up to see Detective Adler’s eyes studying her intently. His gaze remained glued to

her as she pulled back her long bangs from her forehead and the woman

started snapping pictures from every angle imaginable.

“Now your stomach. Can you lie back please and lift your shirt?” Her

gaze flitted to his just to see him watching her coolly. She leaned back on

the gurney, lifting her t-shirt and bunching it just