Page 145 of For Your Consideration

“Oh my God, Sutton.” She pulled me into a hug and I melted into it. We both held on for a moment before she pulled back. “Are you okay? I was like five minutes from driving over last night. Theo threatened to steal my keys but joke’s on him because I could have just walked. But Asher texted to tell us you were asleep so I didn’t come.” She spoke quickly, her voice a little higher than normal.

“I’m shaken and a little banged up but I’m okay…all things considered. The boxing helped this morning.”

“I haven’t been to Clinch yet, but they do women’s self-defense classes there. I’ve been thinking of taking a class.”

I nodded. “Ash told me about them. I want to sign up. We can do it together.”

She smiled and nodded before she kept going. “What can I do? Do you need food or a fancy coffee or wine or a book recommendation? Whatever you need. You aren’t coming in to work today so take that off your plate.”

“You’re the best, Quinn.”

“We take care of our own,” Knight called out from the kitchen and I sent him a little smile.

“I’m serious about work. You don’t need to rush back.”

“I don’t want to—”

“Sutton.” She cut me off. “Don’t even worry about it. Take as much time as you need. This is a lot.”

“It’s not so much the bruising.” I moved to sit on one of the couches in the living room and she came to sit in front of me. “It’s that sense of safety he took from me. We’re in a custody battle, and I knew it could get ugly. But…I never expected him to do what he did.” I let out a sigh as Asher rested his hand on my shoulder, giving me a squeeze in a silent stand of support. I was surprised to see Knight and Jaxson had followed us into the room too.

“That’s going to be hard to get back, Sutton, but you just let me know what you need.”

“Thanks, Quinn. I appreciate you more than I could ever say.”

“Why don’t we leave Thor here for the day? He may seem a little high energy but he’s had good training. He can be an extra set of ears.”

Tears welled up in my eyes. “I would really like that.” I cleared my throat. With that the group started moving toward the door. Thor stayed at Asher’s side, Sophie in his arms as we watched his friends go.

“Love you.” Quinn waved.

“Love you too.” I sighed as I leaned back into Asher. He placed a kiss on my head and then passed me Sophie so he could lock the door and arm the security system, which he’d shown me how to do last night.

“I’m working from here today,” he grumbled as he moved into the kitchen and started filling our mugs.

“I don’t—” I stopped my objection when he turned to look at me over his shoulder.

An hour later, Asher was in his office, I was sitting in the living room, and Sophie was on the floor in front of me. It was a nice day; I could have been sitting outside, getting some sun. But I couldn’t force myself to go out. Thor was lying on the ground next to Sophie. He was relaxed but alert, completely unbothered by Sophie tugging on his ears and fur.

Iris was on her way over, which was why I was watching the security camera feed of outside. Asher had gotten me access to it on my phone. Or at least that’s what I was going to tell myself. I didn’t really think Ben would show up here, plus Asher was in the house. I was safe.

But I hadn’t expected him to show up in some random grocery store parking lot either.

The ringing of my phone startled me, making me jump. Then my stomach bottomed out as I saw Maya’s name.

Taking a breath, I answered. “Hello.”

“Sutton.” Her calm voice came over the line. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay…” I wrapped my cardigan closer around me.

“I’m sure you’re not. I was going to call last night but Will told me you were okay and that Asher was taking care of you.”

I let out a surprised laugh. “You listened to Will?”

“Well,” she scoffed, “I had other things to worry about so I let him get away with it, but don’t worry, it won’t happen again. And one of those other things was looking at the police report. We filed a restraining order for you and Sophie, which was granted first thing this morning. There is a warrant out for Ben’s arrest—they’re going to charge him for assault.”

“Wow.” I let out a breath, my mind spinning with how much she’d done in the twelve hours since it all happened. “That’s a lot.”