to do that. I was just going to drop this in your mailbox." He came up the stairs, stopping a few feet away. In his hand was the envelope she'd given Wallace earlier.
"What are you doing with that?" she asked in surprise.
"Wallace Jagger asked me to return it to you. Your address was inside."
"Why would he give it to you?"
"He said he couldn't bear to read what was inside."
"So, he didn't read it?" she asked, disappointment running through her.
"No."
"I can't believe you drove all the way over here tonight."
"He was insistent that I do it on my way home and not wait until tomorrow. It felt like the envelope was burning a hole in his pocket."
"I can't believe he didn't even look inside." She paused, giving him a speculative look. "Did you?"
"Yes," he admitted. "But I didn't know what I was reading."
"Didn't you stop and think maybe it was private?" She was a little surprised he was being so honest about snooping.
He shrugged. "Yeah, but I still kept reading. Seemed like a lot of love stuff to me. I don't know why he was so scared of it."
A sound came from inside her house and she started once more. As her gaze moved to the door, she realized it was ajar. "Oh, my God," she whispered. "Someone is inside my house."
Chapter Five
"Step back," Jax ordered, his lazy, easygoing manner vanishing in a second. As he moved toward the door, a large figure came barreling onto the porch shoving Jax into the potted plant on the porch.
Then the man was on her, grabbing for her purse.
She instinctively held on to it, not sure why, because he was huge, and he was wearing a ski mask over his face.
Jax jumped back into action, tackling the man from behind, and fists flew as they pummeled each other. She ran toward her car and jumped inside, locking the doors. She pulled out her phone with a shaky hand as she watched Jax battle the burglar.
"What's your emergency?" the dispatcher asked.
"Someone broke into my house. He's attacking my…my friend."
"What's your address?"
She gave her address and then hit the horn hard a couple of times, hoping the noise would scare the man away. The dog next door started to bark. Lights came on at the house across the street. The guy shoved Jax and ran down the street, disappearing around the corner.
To her shock, Jax went running after him.
She jumped out of her car. "What are you doing?" she yelled. "The police are coming."
He ignored her. Her neighbor, an older—and very nosy—woman stuck her head out the front door. "Maya?" Ellen Simpson questioned. "What's going on? You woke me up."
"Someone broke into my house," she said as a police car came down the street.
"I'm going to get John."
She didn't bother to answer as two officers exited the patrol car. One was an older man with a slow gait. The other appeared to be in his early twenties and almost didn't look old enough to be a cop.
"You called 911?" the older guy asked.
"Yes. Someone broke into my house. He attacked my friend and then he ran that way." She pointed to the corner. "My…my friend went after him." She didn't really know why she was calling Jax her friend since she barely knew him, but she didn't know how else to describe him.
"Was anything taken?" the younger officer asked.
"I don't know. I haven't been inside yet." She blew out a breath of relief as she saw Jax jogging back toward the house. "There he is. That's my friend."
"He got away," Jax said, his breath still coming hard. "He jumped into a van parked a block away. I got a partial plate—J72. I couldn't see anything else."
"What color was the van?" the older officer asked.
"Gray. I think it was an older Dodge Caravan."
"And the man who got in it? Was he alone?" the officer continued.
"He got behind the wheel," Jax answered. "I didn't see anyone else. He had on a ski mask. Was over six feet. Couldn't tell you what color his hair was."
"His eyes were brown," she said, remembering his angry gaze on her. "It's weird he didn't have anything in his hands when he came out of the house. But he tried to grab my purse."
"We had a similar break-in last night about three blocks from here," the older cop said. "Could be related. Anything else you can tell us?"
She slowly shook her head. "No."
"Let's take a look inside your house."
She nodded and followed the