saw another officer walking out with Fallon in his arms.
She was covered in smeared blood.
I ran towards her and, as soon as I was able, I reached out and yanked her to me. I wrapped my arms around her not giving two fucks about the blood. “Fallon,” I whispered like a prayer. “Oh, baby.”
She was shaking, but she was holding on to me just as tightly and I knew there was going to be a long road to recovery, mentally and emotionally. “Xander,” she sobbed. “Oh, Xander, they…they…”
I had a fairly good idea of that they did without her having to explain. I knew the blood wasn’t hers, and with the last officer walking out of the house, they were all accounted for. The distant sound of an ambulance told me that I wasn’t going to have much time with her and that sent me into a panic.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to step back,” the officer who seemed to be in charge said. “Your house is an official crime scene and I need you to follow me out onto the street.” I nodded but didn’t care. All that mattered was that Fallon was now safe on two fronts. Thomas was dead. He could no longer stalker her, and he no longer had a gun to her head.
With Fallon in my arms, we walked over to the patrol cars just as the ambulance pulled up to the scene. The one female officer immediately went to pull Fallon from my arms, but I held tight. The panic of letting her go was consuming me. “No,” I snapped.
The officer narrowed her bright blue eyes at me. “You don’t get to tell me no,” she snapped back. “If you care at all about this woman you will let the paramedics check her out.” Then she went for the jugular. “You’re going to have to put whatever macho bullshit you’re going through aside and do what’s best for her.”
Before I could comment, Fallon looked up at me. “It’s okay, Xander,” she whispered. “I…please…”
My fucking heart was breaking.
How the fuck did she expect me to step back yet again? Why was everyone acting like I wasn’t the best thing for her right now?
“Fallon-”
She looked at the officer and asked, “Can you question him next to the ambulance?”
Her narrowed blue eyes softened. “Of course,” she replied. “But only if you promise to cooperate with the paramedics and not interrupt our preliminary questioning.” She reached out and rubbed Fallon’s arm. “Once you’re medically cleared, you will both have to come down to the station for official questioning.”
“That’s fine,” I agreed.
One of the paramedics walked over, and I was forced to let Fallon go. I watched as he supported her all the way back to the ambulance and I wanted to break something. Everyone else was doing my fucking job.
I was graciously allowed to stand on the side of the ambulance as the female officer waited for the officer in charge to join us. Once he did, introductions were made. “Hello,” he started, “I’m Officer Nelson and this is Officer Brentwood. What is your name, sir?”
“Xander Raynes,” I answered.
“And this is your house?” he asked as both he and Officer Brentwood scribbled on their miniature notepads.
“Yes,” I answered.
“And the victim is your wife?”
His question felt like a weight in the pit of my stomach. I was going to have to answer truthfully and that answer was going to close off all kinds of access to Fallon that I’d have as her husband. “No,” I replied honestly. “She’s my girlfriend, but we live together.” I prayed these were the type of people who understood that a legal piece of paper didn’t place an exact value on love.
“Her name?”
“Fallon Reese.”
“And the man in your home?” He didn’t say deceased, so I wondered if it were possible that Thomas could still be alive.
“Uhm, I just know his name is Thomas.” I shook my head. “I don’t know his last name, only that he and Fallon grew up in foster care together.”
Officer Brentwood finally spoke up. “Can you tell us what happened here, Mr. Raynes?”
I ran my hands through my hair and let out a deep breath. They were going to get more details out of Fallon later, so I gave them quick, condensed version of what had happened.
When I was finished, Officer Nelson said, “We’ll need you to come down to the station for further questioning.”
“What happened in there?” I finally asked.
Officer Brentwood glanced over at Officer Nelson