What He Guards (What He Wants, Book Twelve) by Hannah Ford Page A

grabbed
for the phone, but he held it just out of my reach.   I lunged for it again, but his body was made of stone,
expertly conditioned by hours of running and weights.
    “Charlotte, this is not up for
negotiation,” he said, like I was a child being told I couldn’t play with a
favorite toy.
    “What are you going to say to them,
Noah?” I demanded.   “That some
random person called and threatened my life?”
    “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m going to
say.”   He’d finished dialing, and
he put the phone to his ear, waiting for the call to be picked up.
    “Are you serious?”   I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. “Are you even thinking this through?   What do you think the police are going to think, Noah?   Do you think they’re going to believe
you?”  
    “It’s inconsequential whether they
believe me or not.   They will be
forced to take action.”
    “Really, Noah?   They’ve charged you with first degree murder.   They’ve started the trial
process.   They’re not going to be
jumping at the chance to start looking at other suspects. They’re going to
accuse you of lying, they’re going to say that you’re interfering with their
justice process.”
    “Can I have Detective Fisk, please?” he
said into the phone.   “Thank
you.”   He was put on hold, and he
shook his head at me.   “You’ve been
reading one too many crime novels, Charlotte.”
      “That’s bullshit.   They want to nail you for this, Noah.   They’ve been quiet so far because they’re waiting for the
media to get interested, and then they’re going to ride this case for all it’s
worth.   Me sending that email was
just the first step of what was inevitably going to happen.   The DA’s office wants to bury you, and
they’re not going to listen to anything that makes it look like they’ve got the
wrong person.   And you know it.”
    “Charlotte, I will not play games with
your life.   Now get your things.”
    “Get my things?”
    “Yes.   We’re going back to my apartment.   You agreed to do as I say, and this is what I’m saying.”
    “And you agreed to try things my way.”
    “Yes, well, the situation has changed.”
    Red hot fury coursed through me.   How dare he just decide to change our agreement.   He’d
said we could try this my way, and at the first sign of a speed bump, he was
taking it back.
    A weariness washed over me.  
    Let him, a voice in my head whispered, tempting
and sweet.   Let him take
over , let him call the police .   Let him take you back to his apartment, let him take his frustration out on you with his
hand, his belt, his cock.   The thoughts pulled on my mind.   Come
on, they beckoned.   Just
do it.   Let him take over.
    But I couldn’t give in.
    Because Noah was wrong.
    His desire to protect me was clouding his
judgment.   If he called the police,
it was going to backfire.   Sure,
maybe they’d make some half-ass attempt to trace the call from Anonymous, but
that could take weeks.   And that
was assuming they even believed Noah in the first place.  
    And then what?   Even if the police figured out who’d made that call, it didn’t mean they
were going to start an investigation.   Especially now that my email had been printed in the City Herald.   The cops would blow it off as a prank call
from someone who’d been following the case and decided to try to scare me.  
    No.
    The police and the DA had already decided
who killed Katie.   This trial was
going to be high profile, and they wanted to win.
    Suddenly, I was scared.   It had been a mistake, sending that
email to Ryan Ramos.   I’d been
foolish, and it had cost me.   But
it was done.   There was nothing I
could do about it now.   And if Noah
did this, if he contacted the police in a misguided effort to protect me, it
would make things worse.  
    We had a chance to keep him out of jail,
no matter how slim and dangerous that chance might be.
    We needed to take it.
    “I’ll